About sokari
Technology for human rights
Look at these two satellite photos of a hamlet in the Darfur region of Sudan. What differences do you see between the first one taken in March 2003 and the second one taken in December 2006?
The two photos were developed using satellite imagery and internet-integrated mapping by Geospatial technologies and Human Rights Project to capture the atrocities taking place in Darfur, Gaza, Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
We have used a lot of satellite imagery other than the high-resolution imagery, to look at fires and deforestation. We also look at the use of GPS, GPS-enabled cell phones, satellite phones, and things like that. Mapping is a big part of what we do, which is assisted and enabled by software called Geographic Information Systems (GIS.) In the future we want to use radar satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs,) citizen-camera networks and more.
The imaging was created by Google Earth which is free. The imagery is really used to corroborate first hand accounts of violence and destruction. But it's not all good news. Like all technologies, satellite imagery could be used by repressive governments to plan attacks. It could also be used by rebels soldiers and criminal gangs engaged in animal poaching to target specific areas.